Thursday, July 28, 2016

LOONY TUNES no. 155

“Calling government social programs the “invisible hand,” a recent Stockton University study indicated that 60 percent of New Jersey residents said they had never benefited from one. In reality, according to the study, 68 percent of those very same respondents had participated in one or more programs. They just didn’t consider them government social programs.”

“The title refers to Adam Smith's explanation that the Invisible Hand guides free markets and capitalism, but it really takes on multiple meanings in the play. The invisible hand guides the money away from its intended destination and that manipulates global markets. The play is brilliantly written, but could be tightened a bit). David Kennedy's [Absolutely No Relation!] direction is a benign invisible hand, flawlessly guiding the complexities of the play. All the actors give first-rate performances and give their characters depth and credibility. No clichés here, even though some of it is predictable because we have known too many corrupt societies and too many acts of terrorism.

3

From a Blurb for a PODCAST featuring “veteran energy editor Ed Crooks of the Financial Times”:

“Is conventional, free-market economic theory really up to the task of energy transition and combating climate change? Can we let the so-called invisible hand of the market guide us through the troubled waters ahead, or will we need firm policy direction and deliberate, top-down planning to secure the best outcomes? How useful can free markets be, in transitioning us away from coal, and meeting our climate targets and securing enough carbon-free power to run our societies? Will they be any help at all in supporting technologies like carbon capture and sequestration, or geoengineering? Can negative discount rates help us pay for climate change mitigation projects? And what does the future hold for oil?”

Comment

Where did Ed Crooks get the idea from that there was “an invisible hand of the market”? It certainly was not from Adam Smith. How would Ed propose to organise “a firm policy direction and deliberate, top-down planning to secure the best outcomes?” Who will staff it - who will pay for it? And so on and on ad infinitum…4

“THIS HOMEMADE FLYING CHAIR IS THE STUFF DANGEROUS DREAMS ARE MADE OF”

“I have tried to build something that makes you feel like an invisible hand taking you wherever you wish,” Borg says. “I had a few basic design criteria such as being able to haul it through an ordinary garage port without disassembling the craft and being able to drink a cup of coffee while flying” — although this latter point may have been asking a bit much."